Dusting and polishing paper



Patented Jan. 17, 1950 DUSTING AND POLISHING PAPER Hilton I. Jones, Wilmette, Ill., assignor to The Munising Paper Company, Munising, Mich., a

corporation of Ohio No Drawing. Application December 12, 1945, Serial No. 634,616

I 17 Claims.

This invention relates. to a treated paper suitable for the purposes of dusting and polishing furniture and the like, and to a stable oil-inwater emulsion especially suitable for use in impregnating paper to form the aforesaid product. There are two general ways of polishing furniture; one employing waxas the polishing me-* dium and the other a non-drying oil, usually a mineral oil. In using wax, the wax isapplied with a cloth, the excess is removed with another cloth and the polish is developed by hard rubbing. This polish does not have as high a gloss as that obtained with oil, particularly on worn furniture. The treated paper of the present invention uses a non-drying oil as one constituent of the polishing medium.

In polishing with a non-drying oil, a small amount'of oil or oil emulsion is applied on the surface to be polished with a cloth and the excess of oil rubbed off. This method of polishing is objectionable because of the temporary character of the polish, the difllculty in removing suflicient excess oil to prevent smearing and because the excess oil tends to hold dust.

The treated paper of the present invention makes possible the polishing of furniture with a non-drying oil, with the elimination of the aforesaid disadvantages, and it is especially suitable as a dusting sheet because of its softness and dust absorbing properties. As hereinafter pointed out, this treated paper is capable of applying an excess of oil for the purpose of giving maximum polish and of then removing the excess oil, leaving only a non-smearing film which has more desirable characteristics than the oil film left in accordance with prior art methods.

This treated paper gives the advantages of the oil type of polishes in its ease of application and the advantages of the wax type of polishes in the character of the polish obtained.

' The" dual function paper of the present invention is formed by incorporating into a high wet and dry strength paper sheet a non-drying 011,

one 'or more emulsifying or surface active agents capable of being readily emulsified upon being mixed with water and a flexibilizing or plasticizing agent. Especially desirable results are obtained by the use of a plurality of surface active agents as hereinafter described. The manner of incorporating these constituents into the paper may be varied, as desired, by spraying a mixture thereof onto the paper, for example. It is preferred, however, to incorporate the constituents in the form of a stable aqueous emulsion and to run the paper sheet through the emulsion be- 2 cause more uniform impregnation of the sheet is thereby obtained. The sheet is then dried to remove the major portion of the water and thereby form the dual. function product of this invention.

The paper sheet which may be used in accordance with the present invention must have a high wet and dry strength and be free from such extraneous materials as size, filler and the like. It may be formed from any type of paper-making pulp, sulphite pulp. purified sulphite pulp, mechanical wood pulp and the like, but the best results have been obtained by making the paper from a bleached sulphate (kraft) pulp, particularly one from a furnish consisting of 100% bleached kraft pulp. The paper sheet should be of low density and the beating, jordani g, pressing and calendaring of the paper during manufacture may be controlled by the conventional methods to give such a sheet. Sheets having apparent densities (apparent density=ream weight [17" x 22"-500]+caliper in thousandths of an inch) in the order of about 2.5 to 4.0 hav been found suitable for use in accordance with the present invention.

The high wet and dry strength characteristics are imparted to the paper by incorporating into a size-free and filler-free furnish, preferably as it leaves the jordan and before it goes on to the paper machine, any one of the known materials for increasing the wet strength of paper. The preferredmaterialforthispurposeis a melamineformaldehyde resin such as the resin described in the Wohnsi'edler and Thomas Patent No. 2,345,543, granted March 28, 1944, for example. Other resinous materials which may be used for this purpose are urea-formaldehyde resins, dimethylol urea-formaldehyde resins and the like. The phenol-aldehyde type of resins such as the phenol-formaldehyde resin may also be used for this purpose but they are objectionable because they tend to make the paper harsh and stiff.

The wet tensile strength of the paper which is used in accordance with the present invention should not be too high because such papers are unduly still. Wet tensile strengths in the order of about 200-500 gms. for a strip 15 mm. wide on a 8.5 lb. (17" x 22"-500) sheet of paper have been found satisfactory. Lower wet strengths may be tolerated providing the durability of the paper for the purpos hereinafter to be described is not destroyed. As noted above, higher wet strength is undesirable because of the increased stiffness of the paper.

In general, using a melamine-formaldehyde aforesaid patent and application, quantities of the resin in the order of about A per cent to. 3 per cent, based on the weight of the pulp, impart the desired wet strength to the paper. Optimum results are obtained by usin a melamineformaldehyde resin in the order of about 1% per cent by weight, based on the weight of the pulp.

As is well known, these resins are partially cured by the heat of the driers on the paper machine and the curing continues over a period of time thereafter to develop the desired wet strength. Since the imparting of wet strength to paper is a well known procedure, no further details thereof are deemed necessary.

The non-drying oil which may be used may be I any deodorized, decolorized mineral oil of any viscosity, even up to and including liquid parafiin. Other non-drying oils, including such vegetable non-drying oils as castor oil, may also be used. The mineral oil Rose oil, sold by Standard Oil of Indiana is particularly suitable.

The flexibilizing or plasticizing agentmay be any suitable humectant such as glycerine, propylene glycol, triethylene glycol, sorbitol, etc.. including crude mixtures containing substantial proportions of such polyhydric alcohols. The

'function of the plasticizing agent is to soften and including the lon chain fatty acid partial esters of sorbitan, sorbide, mannitan and mannide and mixtures thereof. Examples of such esters are sorbitan monolaurate, sorbitan monopalmitate, sorbitan monostearate, sorbitan monooleate, and sorbitan trioleate. These compounds are sold by Atlas Powder Company under the trade names, respectively, Span 20, Span 40," Span 60, "Span 80 and Span 85. Additional examples of such esmrs are sorbide monolaurate, sorbide monomyristate, the mannide monoestersv of the acids present in distilled coconut oil fatty acids, mannide monostearates, and a mixture of mannitan monostearate, mannide monostearate and mannitan distearate. These esters, particularly the monoesters, may be prepared by the methods described in United States Patents Nos. 2,322,620 and 2,322,821, to Kenneth R. Brown, using as the fatty acid, for example, caproic, caprylic, capric, lauric, myristic, palmitic, oleic, linoleic, linolenic, ricinoleic, stearic, dihydroxy stearic, eleostearic and the like or any mixture thereof, including the fatty acids derived from animal fats and oils and vegetable oils such as lard, sardine oil, whale oil, menhaden oil, coconut oil, soya bean oil, corn oil, castor oil, olive oil and the like. l

2. Polyoxyalkylene derivatives of any one or any mixture of the foregoing hexitol anhydride long chain fatty acid partial esters, particularly the polyoxyethylene derivatives. Examples of such derivatives are polyoxyethylene derivative .of sorbitan monolaurate, polyoxyethylene derivative of sorbitan monopalmitate, polyoxyethylene derivative of sorbitan monostearate, p'olyoxyethylene derivative of sorbitan monooleate and polyoxyethylene derivative of sorbitan trioleate. These polyoxyalkylene derivatives are sold by Atlas Powder Company under the trade vnames, respectively, Tween 20," 'Tween 40,"

Tween 60, Tween 81" and. Tween 85." They are prepared, in general, by reacting a long chain fatty acid partial ester of a hexitol anhydride with ethylene oxide or other alkylene oxide in large molar excess. Thus, for example, "Tween 81" is formed by reacting about 5 mols of ethylene oxide per mol of sorbitan monooleate and "Tween 85" is formed by reacting about 20 mols of ethylene oxide per mol of sorbitan trioleate.

3. Polyoxyalkylene derivatives of a glycol long chain fatty acid monoester, particularly the glycol monoesters of fatty acids having at least 12 carbon atoms such as those set forth above. Particularly effective derivatives are the polyoxyethylene derivatives formed by reacting a large molar excess of ethylene oxide with an ethylene, diethylene, propylene, butylene or triethylene, etc. glycol monoester of a fatty acid having from 12 to 18 carbon atoms. The preferred ones are those formed by reacting 20,

and mols, respectively, of ethylene oxide per mol of propylene glycol monostearate. They are sold by Atlas Powder Company under the trade names, respectively, G-2l50, G-2160" and G-2l'l0. The product G-2l50" is the most effective.

Attempts to form stable oil-in-water emulsions 'with relatively large amounts of glycerine or will be described in connection with a preferred constitutents dissolve one in the other.

formula. It is to be understood that variations in the formula may be made as hereinafter described without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims. In the examples, the term parts indicates parts by weight.

100 parts Rose oil, 5 parts sorbitan trioleate ("Span 5 parts of a polyoxyethylene derivative of sorbitan monooleate (Tween 81") and 1 part of a polyoxyethylene derivative of propylene glycol monostearate ("G-2150), all liquids, are beaten together at room temperature until the This is termed herein Solution A.

Solution B is formed by stirring 500 parts of water with parts of glycerine, at a temperature of about 40-80 C.

The stable emulsion is formed by adding solution A to solution B, with rapid stirring.

The proportions of the constituents in the above formula may be varied to meet any desired need. Thus, for example, the oil content of solution A may vary from 50 to parts, and as much as a 100% variation (one way or the other) in the quantity of the other constituents -may be made without seriously affecting the character of the final product. Any

one or two of the surface agents may be omitted,

if desired, but in doing so there is some impairment of the hardness of the film deposited during polishing. From the standpoint of the stability of the emulsion the presence of Gr-2150 is essential, although one of the other surface activeproduct of this invention, a light weight, high wet strength paper sheet is run through the emuland the other additives, including the surface I active agents, are released to the surface of the furniture during the rubbing operation in quantitles in excess of that required for good polishing. Upon rubbing the surface again with a dry sheet, excess oil is picked up and this leaves the surface of the furniture with just enough of a glossy film to show a polish.

Surprisingly, the film does not have an oily appearance nor does it smear readily. In fact, the film is fairly hard and does not finger-mark, features characteristic of a wax film but not of an oil film. In addition, the film has considerably more stability and permanency than the conventional oil films. I am not prepared to explain the reason for this but it appears that the self-emulsifying agents combine in some way with the oil to form the aforesaid film A further advantage residing in the use of these selfemulsifying agents in the composition is that they are effective detergents and they aid in cleaning the furniture when the moistened sheet is rubbed over it, to the extent that even watersoluble materials such as dried sugar, syrups,

weight of the paper, but not less than this, for

such lesser amounts are unsatisfactory. Larger amounts of the dry residue, say up to 2-3 times the weight of the paper, may be used, but such large amounts are wasteful of the material. Still larger amounts of the constituents may be incorporated in the paper, up to the point where the paper contains sufficient oil so that it is wet to the touch and smears in use, but my invention is limited to that amount of residue where the paper still feels dry to the touch and is capable of absorbing additional amounts of oil.

The dried impregnated paper sheet is soft and clothlike. In fact it is so soft that it readily covers all of the furniture areas rubbed with it. Because of this softness there is very little likelihood of marring the most sensitive furniture surface. One function of the oil in the sheet is to cause any dust or loose dirt on the furniture to adhere to the surface of the sheet. In view of the extreme softness of the paper, attributable in no small part to the fiexibilizing agent, larger areas thereof are brought in contact with the furniture and the capacity of the sheet to hold dust is increased over that possible with the prior art dusting papers. As is well known, these prior art dusting papers are hard and stiff and when they are once crumpled into a ball, there are only a few points of contact with the surface of the paper and hence the dust necessarily collects in large quantities at those points. ,In view of the limited amount of oil in the paper of the present invention, no smearing of oil on the surface being rubbed takes place, even on a very smooth surface such as the surface of a table. Inthe dried form, the sheet of the present invention serves primarily as a dusting paper and has very little of the polishing function.

The treated paper may be used to polish furniture, for example, as follows:

A piece of the paper is moistened, not saturated, with water and then rubbed over the surface of the furniture. The treated surface is then polished with a dry piece of the same paper.

Upon the addition of water to the dry treated sheet an emulsion of the additives to the sheet forms promptly, due to the presence of the selfemulsifying agents, with the result that the oil etc. are readily removed with the wet sheet. In the conventional methods of polishing furniture with a non-drying oil, such water-soluble materials are usually not removed during the polishing operation.

I have found that the hardness of the film formed by the paper of the present invention may be improved by incorpoating in the emulsion small amounts of a hardening agent such as sodium alginate, for example. The quantity of this hardening agent which may be used may vary rather widely, say from about to 3% by weight of the amount of non-drying oil used. An effective way of incorporating this material into the emulsion is to add parts of a 1% solution of sodium alginate to solution B. The mixing of solutions A and B then is effected as described above. Other oil film hardening agents may, of course, be used.,

The emulsion described above has usefulness in other fields, as will be evident readily to skilled workers in the art. Thus, for'example, when blended with perfuming agents, the emulsion is a very effective lotion for the face and hands. lDue to the exceptional stability of this emulsion its use as a lotion is clearly indicated.

I claim:

1. A combined dusting and polishing paper comprising a substantially sizeand filler-free absorbent paper sheet characterized by high wet and dry strength and high oil and water absorbency and having substantially uniformly distributed therein a mineral oil; a fiexibilizing agent consisting of a polyhydric alcohol: and minor amounts of a long chain fatty acid partial ester of a hexitol anhydride, a polyoxyalkylene derivative of a long chain fatty acid partial ester of a hexitol anhydride, and a polyoxyalkylene derivative of a long chain fatty, acid monoester of a glycol, said fatty acids having at least 6 carbon atoms, said paper sheet being soft and cloth-like, substantially dry to the touch, and capable of further impregnation.

2. A combined dusting and polishing paper comprising a substantially sizeand filler-free absorbent paper sheet characterized by high wet and dry strength and high oil and water absorbency and having substantially uniformly distributed therein a mineral oil; a fiexibilizing agent consisting of a polyhydric alcohol; and

cloth-like, substantially dry to the touch, and

capable of further impregnation.

3. A combined dusting and polishing paper comprising a substantially 'sizeand filler-free absorbent paper sheet characterized by high wet and dry strength and high oil and water absorbency and having substantially uniformly distributed therein a mineral oil; a fiexibilizing agent consisting of a polyhydric alcohol; and minor amounts of a long chain fatty acid partial ester of a hexitol anhydride, a polyoxyethylene derivative of a long chain fatty acid partial ester of a hexitol anhydride, and a polyoxyethylene derivative of a long chain fatty acid monoester of a glycol, said fatty acids having from 12 to 18 carbon atoms, the weight of the oil, flexibilizing agent and other materials distributed throughout the paper being at least 30 to 35% of the unimpregnated dry weight of the paper, said uted therein a mineral oil; glycerine; and minor amounts of sorbitan trioleate, a sorbitan monooleate polyoxyethylene derivative, and a propylene glycol monostearate polyoxyethylene derivative, said paper sheet being soft and clothlike, substantially dry to the touch, and capable of further impregnation.

5. A combined dusting and polishing paper comprising a substantially sizeand filler-free absorbent paper sheet characterized by high wet and dry strength and high oil and water absorbency and having substantially uniformly distributed therein a mineral oil; glycerine; and minor amounts of sorbitan trioleate, a sorbitan monooleate polyoxyethylene derivative formed by reacting approximately-5 mols of ethylene oxide per mol of -sorbitan monooleate, and a propylene glycol monostearate polyoxyethylene derivative formed by reacting approximately 20 mols of ethylene oxide per mol of propylene glycol monostearate, said paper sheet being soft and clothlike, substantially dry to the touch, and capable of further impregnation.

- 6. A combined dusting and polishing paper comprising a substantially sizeand fillerfree absorbent paper sheet characterized by high wet and dry strength and high oil and water absorbency and having substantially uniformly distributed therein a mineral oil; glycerine; and minor amounts of sorbitan trioleate, a sorbitan mono- .oleate polyoxyethylene derivative formed by reacting approximately 5 mols of ethylene oxide per mol of sorbitan monooleate, and a propylene glycol monostearate polyoxyethylene derivative formed by reacting approximately 20 mols of ethylene oxide per mol of propylene glycol monostearate, the proportions of the materials distributed through said paper sheet being in the order of approximately 100 parts by weight each of the mineral oil and glycerlne, approximately 5 parts by weight of each of the sorbitan trioleate and the paper sheet being soft and cloth-like, substan- 8 polyoxyethylene derivative of sorbitan monooleate and approximately 1 part by weight of the propylene glycol monostearate polyoxyethylene derivative, said paper sheet being soft and clothlike, substantially dry to the touch, and capable of further impregnation.

7. A combined dusting and polishing paper comprising a substantially sizeand filler-free absorbent paper sheet characterized by high wet and dry strength and high oil and water absorbency and having substantially uniformly'distributed therein a mineral oil; a flexibilizing agent consisting of a polyhydric alcohol; and a minor amount of a long chain fatty acid partial ester of a hexitol anhydride, said fatty acid having from 12 to 18 carbon atoms, said paper sheet being soft and clothlike, substantially dry to the touch. and capable of further impregnation.

8. A combined dusting and polishing paper comprising a substantially sizeand filler-free absorbent paper sheet characterized by high wet and dry strength and high oil and water absorbency and having substantially uniformly distributed therein a mineral oil; a fiexibilizing agent consisting of a polyhydric alcohol; and a minor amount of sorbitan trioleate, said paper sheet being soft and clothlike, substantially dry to the touch, and capable of further impregnation.

9. A combined dusting and polishing paper comprising a substantially sizeand filler-free absorbent paper sheet characterized by high wet and dry strength and high oil and water absorbency and having substantially uniformly distributed therein a mineral oil; a flexibilizing agent consisting of a polyhydric alcohol; and a minor amount of a polyoxyalkylene derivative of a long chain fatty acid partial ester of a hexitol anhydride, said fatty acid having from 12 to 18 carbon atoms, said paper sheet being soft and clothlike, substantially dry to the touch, and capable of further impregnation.

10. A combined dusting and polishing paper comprising a substantially sizeand filler-free absorbent paper sheet characterized by high wet and dry strength and high oil and water absorbency and having substantially uniformly distributed therein a mineral oil; a flexibilizing agent consisting of a polyhydric alcohol; and a minor amount of a sorbitan monooleate polyoxvethylene derivative formed by reacting approximately 5 mols of ethylene oxide per mol of sorbitan monooleate, said paper sheet being soft and clothlike, substantially dry to the touch, and capable of further impregnation.

11. A combined dusting and polishing paper comprising a substantially sizeand filler-free absorbent paper sheet characterized by high wet and dry strength and high oil and water absorbency and having substantially uniformly distributed therein a mineral oi a flexib lizing agent consisting of a polyhydric alcohol; and a minor amount of a glycol fatty acid monoester polyoxyalkvlene derivative, said fatty acid havin from 12 to 18 carbon atoms, said paper sheet being soft and clothlike, substantially dry to the touch, and capable of further impregnation.

12. A combned dusting and polishing paper I comprising a substantially sizeand filler-free polyoxyethylene derivative formed by reacting approximately 20 mols of ethylene oxide per mol of propylene glycol monostearate, said paper sheet being soft and clothlike, substantially dry to the touch, and capable of further impregnation.

13. A combined dusting and polishing paper comprising a substantially sizeand filler-free absorbent paper sheet characterized by high wet and dry strength and high oil and water absorb ency and having substantially uniformly distributed therein a mineral oil; a flexibilizing agent consisting of a polyhydric alcohol; and minor amounts of a long chain fatty acid partial ester of a hexitol anhydride, a polyoxyethylene derivative of a long chain fatty acid partial ester of a hexitoi anhydride, a polyoxyethylene derivative of a long chain fatty acid monoester of a glycol, and sodium alginate, said fatty acids having from 12 to 18 carbon atoms, said paper sheet being soft and clothlike, substantially dry to the touch, and capable of further impregnation.

14. A combined dusting and polishing paper comprising a substantially sizeand filler-free absorbent paper sheet characterized by high wet and dry strength and high oil and water absorbency and having substantially uniformly distributed therein a non-drying oil; a flexibilizing agent consisting of a polyhydric alcohol; and minor amounts of a, long chain fatty acid partial ester of a hexitol anhydride, a polyoxyalkylene derivative of a long chain fatty acid partial ester of a hexitol anhydrlde, and a polyoxyalkylene derivative of a long chain fatty acid monoester of a glycol, said fatty acids having at least 6 carbon atoms, said paper sheet being soft and clothlike, substantially dry to the touch, and capable of further impregnation.

15. A combined dusting and polishing paper comprising a substantially sizeand filler-free absorbent paper sheet characterized by high wet 4 5 and capable of further impregnation.

16. A combined dusting and polishing paper comprising a substantially sizeand filler-free absorbent paper sheet characterized by high wet and dry strength and high oil and water absorbency and having substantially uniformly distributed therein a non-drying oil; a fiexibilizing agent consisting of a polyhydric alcohol; and a minor amount of a polyoxyalkylene derivative of a long chain fatty acid partial ester of a hexitol ani hydride, said fatty acid having from 12 to 18 carbon atoms, said paper sheet being soft and clothlike, substantially dry to the touch, and capable of further impregnation.

17. A combined dusting and polishing paper 20 comprising a substantially sizeand filler-free absorbent paper sheet characterized by high wet and dry strength and high oil and water absorbency and having substantially uniformly distributed therein a non-drying oil; a fle'xibilizing agent consisting of a polyhydric alcohol; and a minor amount of a glycol fatty acid monoester polyoxyalkylene derivative, said fatty acid having from 12 to 18 carbon atoms, said paper sheet being soft and clothlike, substantially dry to the touch, and

capable of further impregnation.

HILTON I. JONES.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 0 Number Name Date 1,878,250 Primeau Sept. 20, 1932 2,027,112 Merriam Jan. 7, 1936 2,322,822 Brown June 29, 1943 2,334,709 Katzman Nov. 23, 1943 

1. A COMBINED DUSTING AND POLISHING PAPER COMPRISING A SUBSTANTIALLY SIZE- AND FILLER-FREE ABSORBENT PAPER SHEET CHARACTERIZED BY HIGH WET AND DRY STRENGTH AND HIGH OIL AND WATER ABSORBENCY AND HAVING SUBSTANTIALLY UNIFORMLY DISTRIBUTED THEREIN A MINERAL OIL; A FLEXIBILIZING AGENT CONSISTING OF A POLYHYDRIC ALCOHOL; AND MINOR AMOUNTS OF A LONG CHAIN FATTY ACID PARTIAL ESTER OF A HEXITOL ANHYDRIDE, A POLYOXYALKYLENE DERIVATIVE OF A LONG CHAIN FATTY CID PARTIAL ESTER OF A HEXITOL ANHYDRIDE, AND A POLYOXYALKYLENE DERIVATIVE OF A LONG CHAIN FATTY ACID MONOESTER OF A GLYCOL, SAID FATTY ACIDS HAVING AT LEAST 6 CARBON ATOMS, SAID PAPER SHEET BEING SOFT AND CLOTH-LIKE, SUBSTANTIALLY DRY TO THE TOUCH, AND CAPABLE OF FURTHER IMPREGNATION. 